South Africa's Flotilla of Shame: Mandela, Bluen, and the Five Who Sail for Hamas

The five South Africans who still sail are not champions of justice. They are actors in Hamas’s theatre of deception.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Written By: Thabo Khumalo

The Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail in September under the banner of humanitarian aid for Gaza, has been exposed as yet another propaganda stunt orchestrated by Hamas-linked networks. Disguised as a mission of solidarity, it is in fact a theatre of confrontation designed to provoke Israel’s navy, manufacture images of aggression, and gift Hamas the global headlines it craves.

At the centre of this operation lies South Africa. No other country has invested so much political capital in aligning its activists, NGOs, and public figures with Hamas. The delegation that boarded the flotilla began with eleven South Africans, a mix of academics, doctors, writers, students and community figures. But by the time the fleet pushed off from Tunis and into the Mediterranean, only five remained. The others, including the high-profile Jewish activist Jo Bluen, quietly disembarked or returned home. This is where the story becomes telling, because the handful who stayed behind embody precisely the propaganda strategy Hamas needs.

What has largely gone unreported is that the flotilla is not an improvised coalition of activists. It is guided by Hamas’s own international political apparatus. The Palestinian Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), officially designated a terrorist organisation since 2021, has acted as Hamas’s shadow embassy network, providing global diplomatic cover for its campaigns. Israeli intelligence and defence officials have confirmed that the PCPA has been central in planning and funding the flotilla, ensuring that the operation remains tied directly to Hamas rather than floating free in the fog of international activism. This is not solidarity by accident; it is political warfare by design.

That Hamas itself is embedded in this project is more than a passing detail. It is the clearest sign yet that South Africa has become not just a cheerleader for the Palestinian cause, but a partner in Hamas’s global strategy. The flotilla shows how Hamas has ingrained itself into South Africa’s political, trade union and civil society ecosystems, weaving its agenda through NGOs, activist networks and even parliamentarians. This is not the work of distant sympathizers. It is the embedding of a terrorist organization into the bloodstream of a democratic state, transforming South Africa into a node of Hamas’s wider campaign.

Nowhere is this more visible than in the figure of Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela. The grandson of Nelson Mandela has become a travelling salesman for the world’s most dangerous extremists. From mourning Hezbollah and Hamas’s Hassan Nasrallah and Ismail Haniyeh in Beirut, to leading chants of “Viva Hamas” in Yemen, to meeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, he has turned his family name into a weapon in the Islamist propaganda arsenal. His seat aboard the flotilla was no accident. Mandela’s presence ensures that every headline about the convoy is filtered through the Mandela lens. It is a grotesque hijacking of his grandfather’s legacy. Nelson Mandela fought for a non-racial democracy built on reconciliation. His grandson spends his days praising organisations committed to racial and religious war. For Hamas, this is a propaganda windfall, they get to cloak their terror project in the aura of South Africa’s most iconic liberation struggle.

Additionally, Mandla Mandela has been barred from the United Kingdom for his open support of Hamas and Hezbollah. British authorities deemed his rhetoric and actions so closely aligned with terrorist organisations that his presence was “not conducive to the public good.” That decision underscored what has become increasingly clear: Mandela is no longer a politician dabbling in Middle Eastern affairs, but a man deeply embedded in terrorist circles. His embrace of Hamas, Hezbollah, and even Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen places him firmly inside the orbit of groups responsible for global terror campaigns. By boarding the flotilla, he has confirmed his role not as an advocate for peace, but as an ambassador for extremist causes.

If Mandela provides theatre, Jo Bluen provides venom. A South African-born academic and leading figure in South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP), Bluen has volunteered her Jewish identity to Hamas’s propaganda machine. She has positioned herself as the “as a Jew” voice condemning Israel, exactly what Hamas needs to launder its extremism through a Jewish figurehead. Her rhetoric places her firmly within the extremist camp. She has repeatedly equated Israel with Nazi Germany, accusing it of genocide, desecrating the memory of the Holocaust while trivializing the concept of genocide itself. On her social media she flaunts the Hamas “red triangle” targeting symbol - the same mark Hamas uses to designate Israeli targets.

Her affiliations tell an even darker story. Bluen has openly endorsed Hamas, a proscribed terror group, and works with networks tied to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Muslim Brotherhood. She has appeared on stage with Leila Khaled, the notorious PFLP hijacker, signalling direct solidarity with a designated terrorist. In October 2023 she shared a stage with Khaled in Johannesburg, and marched where cheering chants of “We are all Hamas” echoed. At no point did she or her organization distance themselves from such incitement - instead, they normalized it in South Africa’s public square. She has also appeared at rallies alongside Muslim Brotherhood operatives holding posters of Hamas leaders such as Abdel Aziz Rantisi, proudly aligning herself with Islamist networks.

Her extremism extends beyond rhetoric into outright incitement. Documented statements include “Every day is F**k Israel day,” “Abolish Israel,” and “Death to the IDF.” Far from isolated outbursts, these slogans define her activism. She presents herself as a scholar, but her platform is used not to promote dialogue or peace but to dismantle Jewish self-determination and mainstream Hamas slogans in South African and Western activist circles.

Her role in the flotilla was officially that of “legal observer,” but this too was part of the theatre. In reality, she and her allies had prepared in advance to declare Israel guilty of war crimes regardless of events. The verdict of guilt was scripted before the ships even left port. Her sudden departure from the flotilla, without explanation, has been treated as a mystery. But her brief participation already provided Hamas with what it needed: the Jewish fig-leaf of legitimacy to claim its stunt was endorsed across communities.

Along with Bluen, five others who had originally been part of the South African delegation - Elham Mouaffak Hatfield, Nurain Saloojee, Jared Sacks, Fazel Behra and Irshaad Ahmed Chotia - returned home safely before the flotilla made its final push. Their absence left just five still sailing under the South African flag: Mandela himself, Dr. Fatima Hendricks, Dr. Zaheera Soomar, Zukiswa Wanner and Reaaz Moola.

These five now carry the propaganda value of the mission. Hendricks provides professional and academic credibility, presenting the flotilla as rational and humanitarian when in fact it is political provocation. Soomar couches her rhetoric in maternal concern, evoking her children while accusing Israel of genocide, while never acknowledging the children massacred by Hamas. Wanner brings literary polish, presenting Hamas propaganda as culture and conscience. Moola, a younger activist with a fierce social media presence, amplifies the flotilla’s messaging across digital networks, ensuring that every slogan is pushed into the feeds of sympathetic audiences. Together with Mandela’s famous surname, they form a carefully constructed tableau of legitimacy, a propaganda cast designed to cloak extremism in the language of solidarity.

The deeper problem is what this reveals about South Africa’s own trajectory. This is no longer a matter of symbolic solidarity with Palestine. By aligning itself so closely with Hamas-backed operations, South Africa is risking complicity in the mainstreaming of an internationally designated terrorist group. Its government has dragged Israel before the International Court of Justice on genocide charges built on Hamas-aligned NGO reports. Its trade unions mobilize boycotts and strikes in language lifted directly from Hamas propaganda. Its activists now sail under banners conceived and coordinated by Hamas’s own shadow diplomatic machinery. In effect, Hamas has found in South Africa both a safe haven and a global megaphone. This is even endorsed by South Africa’s own DIRCO (Department of International relations and Cooperation).

This should alarm not only Israel but every democracy that understands the dangers of Islamist extremism. When a state allows itself to become a hub for a terror group’s lawfare, propaganda and activism, it corrodes its own democratic values from within. Hamas does not merely oppose Israel; it opposes democracy itself, replacing it with theocratic authoritarianism. By opening its institutions and civil society to Hamas’s influence, South Africa risks becoming an extension of Hamas’s long war.

The Global Sumud Flotilla was never about aid. It was about narrative. It was about transforming Hamas’s extremism into a story of humanity, defiance, and solidarity. The five South Africans who still sail are not champions of justice. They are actors in Hamas’s theatre of deception. Mandla Mandela has betrayed his grandfather’s legacy by chanting the slogans of terrorists and embedding himself in terror networks. Jo Bluen disgraced her Jewish identity by serving, however briefly, as Hamas’s fig-leaf, and by building an entire career around aligning with extremist networks. The others lend emotional, cultural, and generational camouflage to a terror-linked stunt.

South Africa is not just on the flotilla. South Africa is the flotilla. And behind it, pulling the strings, is Hamas’s own shadow embassy network, the PCPA, a terror-designated organization that has been building this machinery for years. Unless the world confronts that reality, the ships will keep sailing, the propaganda will keep spreading, and Hamas will continue to hide behind the rainbow flag of a captured South Africa.

Thabo Khumalo is a concerned South African citizen and writer, focusing on analysing politics from a rational perspective.